S.P. Hinduja: Application for Naturalisation

Baroness Gould of Potternewton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When they intend to publish Sir Anthony Hammond's review into the circumstances surrounding the application for naturalisation by Mr S. P. Hinduja.

Baroness Jay of Paddington: The Prime Minister has published Sir Anthony Hammond's report today. The Prime Minister is most grateful to Sir Anthony Hammond for all his work.
	Sir Anthony Hammond is satisfied that nothing improper has occurred in relation to the application for naturalisation by Mr S. P. Hinduja. Sir Anthony Hammond has found that Mr O'Brien, Mr Vaz and Mr Mandelson behaved entirely properly throughout.
	Sir Anthony Hammond also recommends improvements to administrative practice, which the Government will implement in full.
	Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Copies are available from the Printed Paper Office.

Afghanistan: Export Licences

Lord Morris of Castle Morris: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether any goods subject to strategic export controls have recently been approved for export to Afghanistan.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The Department of Trade and Industry recently issued two export licences for mine-clearance equipment for use by the HALO Trust to assist its demining activities in Afghanistan. These goods appear on the Military List. However, UNSCR 1333 (2000) which imposes inter alia an arms embargo on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan provides scope for the UN Sanctions Committee to approve non-lethal military equipment intended solely for humanitarian or protective use to Taliban-controlled territory. The Sanctions Committee has given its approval in these cases.
	The granting of these export licences is fully consistent with UN Security Council resolutions and does not affect the Government's continued support for the EU Common Position on arms exports to Afghanistan.

South Georgia

Lord Morris of Castle Morris: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether any progress has been made towards establishing a fully civilian presence on South Georgia.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: In 1998 the Government announced their intention to establish a fully civilian presence on South Georgia. From the end of March, the small military detachment will be withdrawn. The Commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the Commander British Forces, based in the Falkland Islands, will continue to have responsibility for ensuring the security of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
	At the same time, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) will be opening a new scientific base on South Georgia. The scientific and support team will augment the existing civilian presence on the island. New accommodation and science facilities have been built. BAS will undertake a programme of scientific research under contract to the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The aim will be to support the Government in environmental management and sustainable development of the territory.
	The opening of this new facility, with funding from the British Government, the Government of the Falkland Islands and the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, demonstrates our commitment to the Overseas Territories in accordance with the Overseas Territories White Paper 1999, in particular to sound environmental management of a territory with a unique and sensitive ecosystem.
	Our commitment to the maintenance of British sovereignty over South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and to ensuring their security remains as firm as ever.

Greater Manchester Police Force

Lord Dholakia: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will give the numbers of police officers for the Greater Manchester Police for each of the last five years broken down as:
	(a) numbers deployed in each division;
	(b) numbers deployed at the Greater Manchester Police Headquarters; and
	(c) numbers deployed in task groups working on specific types of crime, for example, drugs working across the county.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: Information on the number of officers in each of the territorial divisions of the Greater Manchester Police from 31 March 1997 to 1 February 2001 is set out in the table. The figures have been provided by the Chief Constable.
	The Chief Constable has also provided information on the number of police officers in headquarters departments and headquarters based operational units. The headquarters based units (which may not be located at force headquarters) deal with specific types of crimes and other specialist areas such as the drugs squad and the robbery squad.
	The number of officers in the headquarters based operational units can be varied to meet changing operational pressures. The force does not retain detailed information, over time, of the numbers of officers in headquarters departments or operational units.
	In addition to the operational activities of the specialist headquarters units, divisional commanders have authority to set up short-term specialist units to deal with specific problems such as drugs or street robberies from within their available resources.
	
		Greater Manchester Police
		
			  31 March 1997 31 March 1998 31 March 1999 31 March 2000 1 February 2001 
			 Manchester North (A) 778.5 711.3 690.2 686.1 692.7 
			 Manchester South (B) 841.7 879.4 899.9 894.5 910.3 
			 Salford (F) 528.5 535.9 519.1 521.4 532.3 
			 Tameside (G) 353 382.7 387.5 371.7 379.4 
			 Stockport (J) 455.9 451.4 428.7 431.6 442.7 
			 Bolton (K) 508.9 508.3 483 477.3 491.8 
			 Wigan (L) 441.4 432.9 420.1 414.5 426.6 
			 Trafford (M) 471.4 498.1 494.5 500.7 505.9 
			 Bury (N) 266.8 275.5 276.9 259.9 266.8 
			 Rochdale (P) 413.8 406.1 383 380.2 388 
			 Oldham (Q) 419.3 408.5 395.7 393 396.5 
			 HQ Departments 703.4 719.7 660.3 709.6 727.2 
			 Headquarters based  specialist units 739 739 771 754 750 
		
	
	Figures are full-time equivalents.

Asylum Seekers: Reasons for Non-compliance

Lord Greaves: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In the cases of asylum seekers who are refused asylum on the grounds of non-compliance where the fault appears to lie with a failure on the part of their Home Office contracted solicitors, what action is taken (a) to give fair and just consideration to the applications, and (b) to ensure there is no repeat of the problem.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: An application will normally be refused on the ground of non-compliance if without reasonable explanation the applicant fails to attend either a screening or substantive interview or fails to return a form giving further information about the basis of the claim.
	This procedure applies whether or not the applicant is legally represented. It is open to the applicant to put forward any reasons for non-compliance in the grounds of appeal or at any other stage of the process until the appeal hearing.
	Contracts to provide help and assistance to asylum seekers are awarded under the Community Legal Service scheme administered by the Legal Services Commission (which replaced the Legal Aid Board). Legal Services Commission contracts are subject to stringent quality standards. Claims for costs are subject to contract compliance audits. Responses to failures to comply with the contract standards could range from disallowing all or part of the costs in a particular case to removal of the contract in extreme cases.

Mounted Police Units

Lord Harris of Greenwich: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many police forces in England and Wales have horse sections; and what is their establishment.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The information is not held centrally. However I am informed by the Secretary to the Association of Chief Police Officers committee which collates such information that the police forces in England and Wales with mounted police units are as below:
	
		
			 Police Force Number of Horses Chief Inspector Inspector Police Sergeant Police Constable Civil Support 
			 Avon & Somerset 10   1 10 3 
			 City of London 6   1 7 1 
			 Cleveland 9   1 8 2 
			 Greater Manchester 41 1 1 6 39 30 
			 Humberside 8   1 6 2 
			 Lancashire 20   2 14 10 
			 Merseyside 24  1 2 24 7 
			 Metropolitan 120 1 5 18 125 48 
			  
			 Northumbria 9   1 8 5 
			 Nottinghamshire 10   1 7 2 
			 South Wales 8   1 8 3 
			 South Yorkshire 18   1 15 6 
			 Thames Valley 9   1 9 2 
			 West Yorkshire 22  1 3 22 5

Authorised Encampments: Police Advice

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether operational advice from the Association of Chief Police Officers on "unauthorised encampments of gypsies/travellers" referred to in Lord Bassam of Brighton's letter of 19 February to Lord Tebbit, in response to the debate of 31 January on police numbers, police morale and violent crime, also applies to encampments that have been given legal status by the Home Office.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) guidance refers to police powers to direct trespassers to leave land under Section 61 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. These apply to unauthorised encampments where the trespassers have been asked to leave by the occupier of the land, where they have six or more vehicles present, or where they have caused damage or used threatening, abusive or insulting language to the occupier, his agent or members of his family.
	The powers do not apply on authorised sites where the persons present are not trespassers. The provision of authorised sites is a matter for local authorities.

Special Constables

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many special constables have been rejected; and when the new higher recruitment standards, referred to in the letter of 19 February from Lord Bassam of Brighton to Lord Tebbit in response to the debate on police morale on 31 January, will be introduced.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: Information regarding the number of unsuccessful applicants to the Special Constabulary is not collected centrally.
	The Police Health and Safety Act of 1997 which came into effect on 1 July 1998 brought police officers within the scope of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Police forces must therefore take the necessary measures to safeguard the health and safety of all their officers, whether regulars of specials.
	As special constables carry out broadly the same range of duties as the regulars; they need to demonstrate the same skills and be trained and equipped to the same standard as regular officers. This has inevitably meant that recruitment standards for specials have risen. They are now very similar to those for regular officers. And this has resulted in a number of applicants who might formerly have been accepted into the Special Constabulary being rejected.

ukonline.gov.uk: Per-session Cookies

The Earl of Northesk: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What purpose is served in requiring that, in order to gain access to the United Kingdom online website, "per-session cookies" have to be allowed by the user's browser.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: ukonline.gov.uk uses cookies so that each user can choose to receive different information according to their needs or interest. Without cookies, everyone would get exactly the same information. So if you lived in Scotland, for example, and were searching ukonline.gov.uk for information about how to register a birth, without cookies you could only receive generic UK-wide information, rather than information which has been specially tailored to reflect the different legal situation north of the Border. The use of per-session cookies is therefore vital to enable ukonline.gov.uk to meet its aim of providing every UK citizen with easy access to information and services which are relevant to them. In any case, these cookies are only temporary and are erased automatically once the user has finished their session on the site.

Warrior Armoured Vehicle

Lord Peston: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What progress has been made on the use of the Warrior armoured vehicle.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: My honourable friend the Minister for the Armed Forces announced in another place on 30 November 2000 (Official Report, cols. 726-27W) that a number of precautionary operating restrictions had been put in place on the use of the Warrior armoured vehicle following the failure of the drive shaft system in some vehicles. A technical solution to the problem has now been developed and the fitting of modified parts commenced on 5 March 2001. The operating restrictions are being lifted from individual vehicles as they receive the modified drive shafts. The programme to convert all Warrior vehicles is expected to be completed by July 2001.

Armed Services: Public Events

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What plans they have for major future public events related to defence.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: In 1999 the then Secretary of State for Defence, Lord Robertson, announced a series of events, now under the umbrella title Defence 2000, which would follow the ending of the Royal Tournament. The spirit of the tournament would be taken forward with an event in London and a military festival held annually outside the capital at different military locations. The Royal Military Tattoo 2000 held on Horse Guards Parade last summer was a major undertaking for the armed services. It was the Ministry of Defence's principal contribution to the Millennium celebrations and was an outstanding success. London will continue to be well served with military pageantry, not least in terms of state occasions, the annual Beating the Retreat and Queen's Birthday Parade. We intend to identify possible future occasions where an event on the scale of RMT 2000 would be both appropriate and practicable.
	In 2001 the Royal Navy will host the first regional event in Portsmouth. It will build on the very successful International Festival of the Sea format, held previously in Bristol in 1996 and Portsmouth in 1998. This year's International Festival of the Sea will feature significant contributions from all three services under the title Defence 2001. These regional events will allow our armed services to display their latest equipment, as well as providing a glimpse into the future. There will be no regional event in 2002 because of the involvement of the armed services in the celebrations for The Queen's Golden Jubilee, in particular the Royal visit to the armed services at Portsmouth and the Thanksgiving Service at St Paul's Cathedral. The Royal Air Force will host the regional event in 2003 and the Army in 2004.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Wild Deer

Lord Rotherwick: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What contingency plans they have made if wild deer become infected with foot-and-mouth virus.

Baroness Hayman: Our current assessment is that the risk of wild deer playing any significant part in the spread of disease is very low. We therefore have no plans at this stage to control wild deer populations.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Farmed Deer

Lord Rotherwick: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What contingency plans they have if farmed deer become infected with foot-and-mouth virus.

Baroness Hayman: If farmed deer become infected with foot and mouth disease, they will be slaughtered and disposed of in the same way as any other species of farmed livestock.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Survey of Badger Carcasses

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When the survey of badger carcasses for bovine tuberculosis announced in a Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food press release on 7 November 2000 will be concluded; and when the results will be published.

Baroness Hayman: The survey of badger carcasses announced by the Government on 7 November will run until further notice. However, collection of badger carcasses by the State Veterinary Service has been temporarily suspended as a result of the foot-and-mouth outbreak. Results will be published periodically after analysis by the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB.